Sierra Leone

Although 57.4% of its territory is arable land, Sierra Leone currently has cultivated less than 20% of its territory.

Sierra Leone is at the bottom of the list of food-producing countries. This unenviable position makes the country – and therefore its population – highly dependent on the import of basic commodities.

The civil war, which started, in 1991, caused widespread damage to local infrastructure and a brain drain. Sierra Leone is now one of the poorest countries in the world. Fortunately, since the end of the war in 2002, the country is back on the road to real economic growth.

• Palm oil

Oil palm is native to West Africa and a standard component of the diet of many Sierra Leoneans.

Palm oil is mainly produced by smallholder farmers using traditional methods. The smallholder farmers lack access to technical skills annd equipments resulting in low productivity and being unable to meet local demand. Untill 2019 50% of oil consumed on the local market was imported.

SAC started its first palm oil production in 2015 when the newly planted oil palms first started to produce fruits. SAC has significantly maintained its palm oil productivity and is now the largest palm oil plantation in Sierra Leone.

Refined palm oil is now produced locally. In fact, a refinery was commissioned in the country in 2019, refining over 100 tons of palm oil a day. It supplies the local market with refined oil for cooking, soap and margarine production. In 2022, a second refinery was commissioned with a processing capacity of up to 900 tons of crude palm oil per day. All processed palm oil is supplied by the SAC plantation.